Nightwing is a vigilante who operates in the crime-ridden city of Blüdhaven. He is also a former student of Batman, serving as the first Robin, as well as the first person to aid Batman directly during his fight against crime.

Richard Grayson was born into a family of acrobats at a travelling circus that called themselves the Flying Graysons, and possessed incredible acrobatic talents from a young age. After a failed attempt to earn a cut of the circus' profits, mobster Tony Zucco sabotaged a circus act in an effort to kill the Graysons. Batman was able to leap to the scene and prevent Dick from being killed, though he was unable to save his parents.

Batman, as Bruce Wayne, took Dick into his home in order to ensure that he was raised properly, and also to help him direct his anger in a way that Bruce felt that he was unable to do after his own parents were killed. Bruce eventually entrusted Dick with the knowledge of his crime-fighting activities, and trained him to fight by his side. Upon completing his training, Dick took on the role of Robin, and aided Batman for several years.

Eventually, Dick grew tired of being second to Batman, and decided to fight crime on his own. Moving to Blüdhaven, Dick took on the name of Nightwing and started his own vigilante career separate to Batman's.

Although Quinton Flynn is credited as voicing Nightwing in Batman: Arkham City, the character has no lines and does not even appear in the story. The fact that he received a voice credit could suggest that he was at one point to appear in the story, but was removed. In challenge maps, he makes use of the same grunts as Robin when he is hit, which were provided by Troy Baker.